THE OPEN: Day One Quotable Quotes

BY BRENDAN JAMES AT ST ANDREWS

It was an eventful first round of The Open Championship. The main topics of discussion were the weather, the brutal back nine, Jordan and Dustin as well as the human headline, Tiger Woods. Here’s some of the best quotes from day one.

“Going out was like riding your bike from Warrnambool to Port Fairy in half an hour with the wind at your back. Coming back was like turning around and having the return trip take three hours.”

– Marc Leishman (tied 24^th, -2) puts a Warrnambool spin on the windy conditions the players faced on the back nine holes at St. Andrews.

“It's pretty cold for July. But it's nice being able to kind of walk everywhere, see the town, go in the pub and having a beer and some fish and chips and such has been really cool.”

– American Robert Streb (tied 2^nd, -6) reflects on his first visit to St Andrews.

“I'm going to eat lunch, maybe do a little bit of practice and then go to sleep. 4:30 alarm makes you need a nap in the afternoon.”

– Irish amateur Paul Dunne (tied 18^th, -3) who played in the second group out at 6.43am.

 “I think we're all shocked as players how good Tiger Woods is and has been, to see him struggling the way he is right now, I think it speaks volumes about what this game is all about. I'm standing here talking about lacking confidence and belief in what I'm doing. You see a guy like that whose highlight reel, his career highlight reel would take days to watch, so it's an amazing game, and I think that's why we have to count ourselves very fortunate that we've had an opportunity to be there on a Sunday afternoon and perform. It's a tough old game.”

– Graeme McDowell (Tied 64, even) on Tiger Woods’ form slump.

 “Those are ugly masks. I told them there's way too many wrinkles in those masks. It kind of scared me looking at those, like geez, look at those things; that guy is ugly.”

– Tom Watson (Tied 139, +4) laughingly reacts to some fans who donned Tom Watson masks to celebrate his final Open Championship.

 “You see all the red numbers today? You'll see a lot of black numbers tomorrow, I promise you. The wind is going to be blowing 25 to 30 to maybe 40 gusts, and the golf course will take its toll tomorrow.”

– Watson again, this time playing weather forecaster.

 “Motivation is never a problem with me. That's never a problem.”

– Tiger Woods (Tied 139, +4).

“It’s hard to watch the greatest player of this generation be a middle of the pack hack.”

– TV Commentator Paul Azinger on Tiger Woods’ troubles.

“You almost want to say, ‘Who are you and what have you done to Tiger Woods?’… Everyone wanted to swing like Tiger. Except Tiger.”

– Azinger again.

"It is my birthday this week. I need to give myself a very special birthday gift one of these years, otherwise it would be very disappointing."

Adam Scott (Tied 24th, -2) on getting a year older every Open week.

"His putter is phenomenal. His mental side is probably the best side I've seen of his game and, beyond that, he's a better kid off the course."

– Zach Johnson on Jordan Spieth.